From mere trash to treasured lanterns

Crafty family: (From left to right) Wan Yii, Wan Xin, Yu Qi and Fou adjusting fixtures on the lanterns they made at their home in Bukit Mertajam, Penang. — CHAN BOON KAI/The Star

BUTTERWORTH: They say that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, and this could not have been more true for a mother of three here.Since 2004, Fou Tee Hoon, 52, would turn egg cartons, plastic bottles, aluminium cans and almost every other imaginable trash items into something useful.

And she now possesses the skill to make elaborate lanterns out of throwaways, winning awards in competitions to boot.